{"id":18842,"date":"2015-03-26T09:05:45","date_gmt":"2015-03-26T13:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/?p=18842"},"modified":"2015-03-26T09:05:45","modified_gmt":"2015-03-26T13:05:45","slug":"lifted-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/2015\/03\/26\/lifted-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Lifted Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Omar Aminzay is tackling his MBA at the University of Mary Washington in the same way that he approaches lifting 525 pounds, one day at a time.<\/p>\n<p>The first-generation American, whose parents emigrated from Afghanistan in the 1970s as refugees, has mapped out his life for the next decade. He aims to compete in his next powerlifting competition within the next 10 months; advance to a middle management position within five years; become a chief financial officer within 10 years. \u00a0He\u2019ll accomplish these goals one day at a time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy parents came here for the American dream. They sacrificed their lives to make a better one for me. That is what fuels me,\u201d said Aminzay, who works as a project accountant for CACI Incorporated. \u201cA day that I don\u2019t have a plan is a bad day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/umwwebmaster.wpengine.com\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/03\/Omar-Aminzay1_Inside.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"18851\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/omar-aminzay1_inside\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/03\/Omar-Aminzay1_Inside.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"4572,2637\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Omar Aminzay1_Inside\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/03\/Omar-Aminzay1_Inside-300x173.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/03\/Omar-Aminzay1_Inside-1024x591.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-18851\" src=\"http:\/\/umwwebmaster.wpengine.com\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/03\/Omar-Aminzay1_Inside-1024x591.jpg\" alt=\"Omar Aminzay1_Inside\" width=\"1024\" height=\"591\" srcset=\"\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/03\/Omar-Aminzay1_Inside-1024x591.jpg 1024w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/03\/Omar-Aminzay1_Inside-300x173.jpg 300w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/03\/Omar-Aminzay1_Inside-768x443.jpg 768w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/03\/Omar-Aminzay1_Inside-1140x658.jpg 1140w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a>Aminzay, who starts each day with a to-do list, received his bachelor of science in business administration in three years at UMW, and he\u2019ll complete his master of business administration in one year. He works 40 to 50 hours a week, takes four classes a semester and works out four times a week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI will do whatever I possibly can,\u201d said Aminzay. \u201cI am a person that is process oriented. I have a task and I have a goal and I have a timeline.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As a freshman, Aminzay found his niche in weightlifting. Now, he competes in powerlifting competitions once a year. At his peak, Aminzay has bench pressed 345 pounds, squat lifted 525 pounds and dead lifted 500 pounds. Within the next six months, he plans to bench 360 pounds and squat 600 pounds.<\/p>\n<p>He approaches his weekly workouts with the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cvabarbell.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Central Virginia Athletic and Barbell Club<\/a> with a plan. For each workout session, he determines the amount of weight he will lift by the end of it and works until he reaches that goal. He also knows his weaker muscles and spends sessions concentrating on working to make them stronger.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an escape from life, from the stress and everything. It\u2019s that one part of the day when you don\u2019t have to think about anything but just working out,\u201d said Aminzay. \u201cIt makes my Monday mornings a lot better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After graduation, Aminzay will take Certified Public Accountant classes with the goal of getting his license to continue on his career path. He\u2019ll take the first exam in October 2015.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith weightlifting, you can\u2019t just go in and lift 500 pounds. It\u2019s a combination of working by small steps. You have to constantly adjust how you\u2019re training and ultimately have an end picture of where you\u2019re going,\u201d said Aminzay. \u201cAnd I think that translated really well with my career and my education.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Omar Aminzay is on a mission to succeed. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":18843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"umw_cb_additional_links":[[]],"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_advisory_expires_time":"","_advisory_meta_include":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,81],"tags":[9],"class_list":{"0":"post-18842","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-show","8":"category-umw-home","9":"tag-business","10":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - 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